


Downward spiral

by Charliecas2000



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Girlfriends/No Wives, Non-Consensual Spanking, Non-Sexual, Other, Self-Harm, Size Kink, Spanking, depressedlink, kindarhinkifyoulookhardenough, parentalrhett, sadfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:07:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27470206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charliecas2000/pseuds/Charliecas2000
Summary: Rhett likes to think that Link is ok but deep down he knows that he's not. After Link's huge outburst after LTAT Rhett realises that Link is most definitely not ok.yeah I know I suck at summaries but this is my first fic so go easy on me... please.
Relationships: Rhett McLaughlin/Link Neal
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	1. Somethings wrong with Link

**Author's Note:**

> Ok its 12am right now and I am exhausted so really sorry for any grammatical errors or spelling mistakes.  
> Comment if you like the first chapter :)

Link woke up to the blissful melody of Lionel Ritchie singing in ear. Eyes still heavy and closed he softly hummed along to the tune, a droopy, half asleep smile spreading on his face. The words “all night long” came out of Link’s mouth as a garbled groan as he started to rub his eyes. Slowly, he sat up and stretched out his arms, yawning as he did so. That’s when the headache hit. A sharp pain spread across his forehead and eyes as he brought his hand up to his head and moaned. Another migraine, what a shock. As he reached over to the nightstand to grab some painkillers rays of sunlight seeped into his eyes from a small crack in the curtains causing him to wince softly. As he brought the mix of medicine to his lips he realised something.  
Link woke up to the blissful melody of Lionel Ritchie and that song was his ring tone for Rhett.  
“Shit” Link gasped quietly as the realisation set in. Link hadn’t set his alarm for work and so was most definitely late for work. Not daring to check the time and wearing the same clothes from the day before Link got his keys and shoes and headed to work. 

“Where the hell is he ?” Rhett asked himself in disbelief. It had been the 3rd time that Link had been late in the past 2 weeks which was not only a pain in the ass for everyone but unusual too. Rhett had wondered about Link’s well being for a little while now but nothing too bad had changed about his best friend so almost as soon as the worries entered Rhett’s head they were gone again. For now Rhett would just have to keep calling in hopes that Link would pick up soon. 

Link wondered into the Good Mythical Morning studio 2 hours late for work. Anxiety welled up inside of him as he worried about how angry Rhett and the crew would be. “You’re a fucking idiot” “they hate you because your useless” Link tried to push these thoughts out of his mind as he made his way towards the meeting room. Before any more of these awful thoughts could form he bumped into Rhett. “Link don’t think we aren’t talking about this after filming today” Rhett said matter of factly. Link just let out a mumbled “ok” in response. 

Through the episode Link seemed alright. But Link was good at acting like everything was ok. Link seemed ok but Rhett noticed some things…  
Link stunk of a nasty mix of body odour and alcohol. His clothes were creased and he had minute stains all over them making Rhett realise that the had not been washed. This was unusual as Link was obsessively clean usually but Rhett had noticed lately that Links hygiene had decreased. If anyone were to pick up on anything wrong in the episode, they’d pick up on Rhett staring intently at Link for long periods of time. Link on the other hand was completely normal, to the viewers anyways. 

After the cameras cut, without saying a single word, Link retreated to the bathroom. Throughout the episode Link was worried. Though you couldn’t visibly notice it, Links mind was racing with anxious thoughts about the crew and Rhett staring at him. “Fuck fuck fuck” he quietly muttered to himself as he stared at himself in the mirror. His face was paler than usual, and his eyes were lined with dark rings and heavy bags. His unkempt facial hair started to form a soft stubble across his lower face and he just looked, for lack of a better word, dead. As he stared at himself a strong hatred washed over him as he looked at himself and said, “I hate you”. That is when it first happened, the first time Link hurt himself was kind of unintentional. As his anger boiled over, he drew back his fist and hit the mirror as hard as he could. Glass shattered and Link looked down at his hand. Blood pooled on his knuckles as he inspected the damage. For the first time in forever Link felt calm from seeing the blood and feeling the stinging pain spread across his hand. It made the thoughts stop. It brought peace.

“Link are you in there? What is going on? What was that noise?” Rhett’s voice came the from from the other side of the door…


	2. Nothing gold can stay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link adopts a new coping mechanism... does it work?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long break I’ve been busy with university:(. Hoping to get the next 2 chapters out this week. 
> 
> Also if this feels rushed it’s because it is. I didn’t want to spend too long on the back story.

Link was pulled out of his daze by Rhett’s concerned voice. “Fuck…uh…just give me a minute!” Link called back to Rhett as he scrambled to clean and cover his bloody hand. Growing more and more impatient by the second Rhett started twisting the door handle trying to gain access to the bathroom. Link had no idea how to explain the broken mirror, Rhett would be so disappointed in him. After around 5 minutes Link opened the door to Rhett stood there, in the hall, concern plastering his face. “Link what happened ? I heard a loud noise and got here as quickly as I could”.  
Rhett stared intently at Link waiting for some sort of reasonable answer but he didn’t get one, all he got was a shrug and Link pushed past Rhett’s tall frame. Rhett was about to say something but was stopped by catching a glimpse of Links hand. It was tightly bawled into a fist with some sort of material around it resembling a sock, as Link continued out of the studio Rhett could see that the material was stained red. 

Rhett left work that day worried and confused. Worried about Link and confused as to why he didn’t say anything to Link after what happened. Rhett grabbed some food and sat on his sofa. Sure Link had his off days sometimes but he always opened up to Rhett. Surely if anything was seriously wrong with him he’d tell his best friend right ? Unable to worry himself anymore Rhett put away the dishes and headed up to bed, hopefully he could sleep this anxiety away.

Link on the other hand… well let’s just say that Link was a mess. He sat on his kitchen floor, his furniture and decor scattered around him. Link had spent his evening trashing his home, throwing household items, tipping over furniture and punching doors. Anything he could do to release his anger anything to stop the intrusive thoughts in his head but it didn’t work. Not like it did earlier when he hurt himself. With an empty bottle of scotch in one hand and a blunt kitchen knife in the other he realised that he could feel better if he could just hurt himself one more time. 

But it wasn’t just one more time and anyone who’s been through it will tell you the same thing. It’s never just one more time.

After developing this new, albeit destructive, coping mechanism Link started to act like himself again, to everyone around him anyways. If ever he felt depressed or anxious he would self medicate with alcohol and self harm, it was an easy fix for him. It brought him peace even just for a few hours, but that was all he needed. A few hours of peace here and a few hours there, whenever he was around other people really. 

Rhett has seemed to be less worried about Link too. Figuring that his recent behaviour was down to Link just have a rough few days he let his worries relax and got back to enjoying his friendship with Link. Everything went back to somewhat normal as Link’s dark secret kept him sane.

Things carried on like this for a while, Rhett and Link went on with their seemingly perfect lives for a couple months. They toured the US, they went on vacation together and they filmed GMM. All without any issues, but then again nothing gold can stay…


End file.
